Europol chief warns against sending sensitive data over public wi-fi

The head of Europol has warned against using free public wi-fi for sending sensitive information due to the risk of interception by hackers.

Troels Oerting, head of EU law enforcement agency's cybercrime centre, told the BBC that the public wi-fi provided in many cafes and shops is being targeted by 'man-in-the-middle' (MITM) style attacks.

"We have seen an increase in the misuse of wi-fi, in order to steal information, identity or passwords and money from the users who use public or insecure wi-fi connections," he said.

"We should teach users that they should not address sensitive information while being on an open insecure wi-fi internet.

"They should do this from home where they know actually the wi-fi and its security, but not if you are in a coffee shop somewhere you shouldn't access your bank or do all of these things that actually transfer very sensitive information."

The MITM attack involves tricking people into connecting to a separate wifi hotspot from which criminals can monitor information such as passwords being sent between the user and online shops, banks or social media sites.

"Everything that you send through the wi-fi is potentially at risk, and this is something that we need to be very concerned about both as individual users but also as police," he added.

MITM style attacks are not new, according to Carl Leonard, senior security research manager EMEA at IT security firm Websense, but are increasingly prevalent.

"The call by Troels Oerting, head of Europol's cybercrime centre, for people to not send personal data over public wi-fi hotspots whilst welcomed is not particularly unforeseen in the IT security community.

"The threat posed by compromised wi-fi hotspots and particularly MITM attacks has existed for years and, though it has not quite received mainstream notoriety, MITM instances always have the potential to seriously affect a multitude of industries in 2014."

Attackers will target all individuals, but business people working remotely at an airport, for example, are highest on the list.

"The nomadic businessperson, for example, is a prime target for those cybercriminals looking to intercept valuable data that can turn a lucrative profit. Cybercriminals are often targeting intellectual property and financial information so if a MITM attack is successful, organisations can experience negative brand perception, reduced customers' confidence and ultimately their bottom line."

Latest Videos

Hear from Invictus Games Sydney 2019 CEO, Patrick Kidd OBE and Head of Technology, @James-d-smith -share their insights on how they partnered with Unisys to protect critical data over an open, public WiFi solution.

With so much change all the time, how can executives best prepare their businesses to meet the security challenges of the coming years? CSO Australia, in conjunction with Mimecast, explored this question in an interactive Webinar that looks at how the threat landscape has evolved – and what we can expect in 2019 and beyond.

According to new research conducted by the Ponemon Institute, Australia and New Zealand have the highest levels of data breaches out of the nine countries investigated. This was linked to heavy investment in security detection and an under-investment in security and vulnerability response capabilities

Copyright 2019 IDG Communications. ABN 14 001 592 650. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of IDG Communications is prohibited.